Windows 11 users want these five features back

When Windows 11 was first released, many long-time users felt features they loved had been taken away overnight.

Three and a half years later, the same complaints still rise to the top of the Feedback Hub with tens of thousands of votes.

Below are the five most wanted Windows 11 features on the Microsoft Feedback Hub.

The most wanted requests in Windows 11

“Bring back the ability to move the taskbar to the top and sides of the screen on Windows 11”

Right now, the taskbar is glued to the bottom edge, and users want the freedom to move the taskbar to the top or sides of the screen.

Feedback Hub’s post on the topic has racked up 24,046 votes and 2,086 comments, but the feedback is not fresh.

Users posted this feedback immediately when Windows 11 shipped to testers, and Microsoft has maintained a radio silence about its plans to upgrade the taskbar.

“The move taskbar feature is missing now for years. Why has this not been changed yet?” writes a user, who also begs Microsoft to “please replace whoever is responsible for the current design.”

One user wonders if Microsoft’s stock phrase “We’ve got it” really means “We’re ignoring it.” 

Microsoft’s Feedback Hub has an automated reply to the post that just says “We’ll be continuing to evolve Windows 11 and its features based on feedback like this, so thank you so much for taking the time to give us your feedback.”

“I would like to be able to turn off the Recommended section in the Start menu and have the whole area disappear in Windows 11.”

The second most-voted request sits at 17,479 votes and 794 comments.

Three years after Windows 11’s launch, Microsoft still doesn’t understand that users do not want a Start menu with the recommended menu.

I personally hate it, too, because it just clogs up the Start menu with recent app or file activities, which are already exposed via the File Explorer.

“No, I don’t want to reduce the size, I want to hide it, forever, for good,” a user wrote.

Another poster calls the pane “a useless, empty space” that wastes screen real estate, and the rest of the users fear it will become an “Advertising space.”

In reply to the Feedback, Microsoft noted that full removal is not available but lists half a dozen toggles inside Settings > Personalization > Start at least reduce the content.

The company recently added a More pins layout in Windows 11 23H2 that lets you shrink the pane…